Souvenir Saturday: William Dixon Smith 1899

William Dixon Smith, Lieutenant Quartermaster, Border Mounted Rifles.
Photographed at Ladysmith Natal, December 1899. He died of enteric
at Intombi Camp in January 1900.




QSA - William's medal has the bar Siege of Ladysmith
(not shown here)

William's memorial at Intombi Cemetery near Ladysmith. Unfortunately,

due to vandalism or to animals wandering through the cemetery, the top

part of the memorial, a cross with the BMR logo, is now missing. 

William's stepson Alexander Anderson's memorial, below, shows the cross

in place, with the BMR boot and spur insignia.

Intombi Camp Graveyard - early view

Gentlemen in Khaki 3

The soldier's accoutrements can provide clues as to date, regiment and rank. For example, in the Border Mounted Rifles, a Natal permanent volunteer corps, up to 1896 ammunition was carried in a pouch with a brown leather crossbelt. Later, what was derogatively known as the ‘Royston Entanglement’ was adopted - a combined rifle sling and bandolier used by NCO's and troopers. Officers and Warrant Officers of the unit wore the Sam-Browne sword belt. Incidentally, the Alexandra Mounted Rifles, which evolved to become the Border Mounted Rifles in 1894, adopted the use of khaki for its field service uniform in 1874.  This is the earliest recorded military use of khaki in South Africa, a possible exception being the 2^nd Highland Light Infantry (74^th Highlanders) who, in the 8^th Frontier War 1850-1852, fought in doublets of that colour.

As family historians know to their cost, names, dates and places are notoriously absent from the back of photographs. In Anglo-Boer War groups badges and insignia may not be visible or easily identifiable; it could be worth asking for specialist advice. If you’re fortunate enough to own a medal awarded to the ancestor, engraved on the rim will be his name, rank and unit, which is an excellent start. 

Most men serving in the Anglo-Boer War were eligible for one or both of the two campaign medals – the Queen’s South Africa and the King’s South Africa. This topic, including the use of the medal rolls for tracing Anglo-Boer War ancestry, was covered in detail in David Barnes’s article “The British Army in the Anglo-Boer War”, in the 6^th edition of The Family and Local History Handbook. Several published medal rolls are available: D R Forsyth's ‘Defenders of Kimberley Medal Roll’, and S M Kaplan's ‘Medal Roll of the Queen's South Africa Medal with Wepener Bar’, and ‘Medal Roll of the Queen's South Africa Medal with Bar Relief of Mafeking’.

THE COLONIAL VOLUNTEERS

Some of the most interesting departures from standard uniform were seen among the colonial volunteer regiments. It was not unknown for certain of these to take to the field in their shirtsleeves, which deplorable habit occasioned much comment from more conventional echelons. However, the colonials were valuable and courageous troops, well-suited by experience to the conditions which they faced in South Africa. This is particularly true of the colonial mounted regiments – they formed two-fifths of the entire mounted force participating in the war.

Should an ancestor have been among the colonials, there are numerous possibilities as to the regiment in which he may have served.  On the outbreak of the war, thousands of troops from the overseas colonies were sent to South Africa from Canada, India, Ceylon, Australia and New Zealand. In South Africa itself, there were permanent regular forces including the Natal Police, Cape Mounted Police and Cape Mounted Rifles. These should not be confused with the permanent volunteer units which had been in place for some years, such as the Natal Carbineers, Durban Light Infantry, Diamond Fields Artillery and Diamond Fields Horse, Border Mounted Rifles, Kaffrarian Rifles, Cape Town Highlanders, the Kimberley Regiment and others.

Also, certain corps were raised at the beginning of the war and specifically for service in that conflict. These ‘irregulars’ carried an aura of glamour and nonconformity: Brabant’s Horse, Thorneycroft’s Mounted Infantry, Roberts’s Horse, the Imperial Light Horse, the Imperial Light Infantry, Steinaecker’s Horse are all names to conjure with.  

They were the stuff of legend and a typical tale is that of Major C B Childe who led 300 South African Light Horse (like the ILH largely composed of Uitlanders) at the taking of Bastion Hill from the Boers in January 1900. Major Childe is said to have had a premonition on the day before the battle that he would be killed, and asked fellow officers to ensure that a biblical quotation would be engraved on his tombstone. Taken from the second book of Kings 4.26, it read: ‘Is it well with the child? and she answered, it is well’. As he’d foreseen, Childe fell at Bastion Hill and his request was duly honoured.

Ladysmith Intombi memorial: Hojem

Trooper A G Hojem's grave at Intombi; he died of enteric.
Hojem was in the Border Mounted Rifles - the unit's badge (the boot and spur) and motto (Rough but Ready) can be seen on the cross.

Souvenir Saturday: Military Memorabilia: BMR

Border Mounted Rifles Collar Badge showing motto

Rough and  Ready*

Brass button with BMR insignia

A badge of the Border Mounted Rifles  Boer War era. This is a slouch hat badge in which the Crown has been removed and then used as a collar/shoulder insignia, as was common practice of the day. There were two designs, one with the Victoria Crown between 1894 & 1901 and then the Kings Crown between 1902 & 1914. This badge appears to have been the earlier Victoria Crown design.

TNA WO 127/2       Border Mounted Rifles.Enrolment Forms

For a list of BMR serving in the Anglo-Boer War see Mole's Blog at 
molegenealogy.blogspot.com/2012/09/boer-war-border-mounted-rifles-list.html

* For the story behind the Boot and Spur and BMR Motto see the Regimental History page 52
'Rough but Ready: An Official History of the Natal Mounted Rifles and its Antecedent and Associated Units' by E Goetzsche.

Souvenir Saturday: William Dixon Smith, Lieut Quartermaster BMR 1899

William Dixon Smith 1857-1900. Lieut Quartermaster, Border Mounted Rifles.
Died 13 January 1900 of enteric fever at Intombi Camp, Ladysmith.

Son of John and Margaret Smith (nee Little) of Spring House farm, Slaley, near Hexham, Northumberland.

William married Charlotte Fisher Melvin Anderson 1851-1920, born in Aberdeen. Charlotte's son by her first marriage, Alick Anderson, a trooper of the BMR, also died at Intombi. Both William and Alick received the campaign medal, the QSA.

Christmas in Ladysmith: Boer War 1899 5

View of Ladysmith from a sandbagged position

CHRISTMAS

Anniversaries relieved the monotony of the siege and were opportunities for celebration. Despite furious bombardment on the Prince of Wales’s birthday, 9 November, a 21-gun salute was fired and a tot of rum issued. Perhaps the salute was unnecessary additional noise. Herbert Watkins-Pitchford remarks that nearly a thousand Boer shells were directed at the town, ‘and the crash of our answering artillery, and the shatter of bursting shells, together with the incessant crackle of rifle fire, made the day a memorable one’.

With the approach of Christmas everyone pushed aside the depressing reality that they were still under siege and rose to the occasion, collecting whatever could be found to contribute to the festivities.

The Border Mounted Rifles staged a concert on 22 December, using improvised instruments such as a drum made of a flour cask with sheepskin stretched over it; the ensemble’s wind section included several tin whistles. Some officers organized a party for the town’s 200 children, providing toys, cake and ginger pop. There were four decorated Christmas Trees at this gathering, representing South Africa, Britain, Australia and Canada.

 

The Australia Christmas tree

Members of the Natal Mounted Rifles built a large brick oven to cook chickens bought at exorbitant prices - 5/- to 7/6. Plum cakes were on sale at 30/- and plum puddings at 40/-. The nurses at Intombi hospital weren’t forgotten: White himself sent each one a parcel with port wine, lime juice, currants, cornflour and tinned tongue. Kate Driver wrote that these items were put into a common fund for use throughout the hospital and that ‘later, when our sick nurses were in great need of such things, we wished we had all taken our parcels!’

Siege Menu

On Christmas Eve there were church services and carol-singing. The Boers started Christmas Day off with a bang, shelling beginning at 5 a.m. and continuing for three hours; there were no casualties. One 15 pounder shell didn’t burst and when examined was found to contain not explosive but plum pudding, and a message, ‘With the compliments of the season’.

Natal Carbineer Arthur Crosby attended Communion at All Saints and later reported, ‘Our dinner consisted of soup, stewed goat and baked beef, both very tough, and plum pudding, very elastic’, but there was rum to wash it down. Cecil William Park of the Devons did rather better ‘with tablecloths and real wine-glasses’ and a menu comprising hors d’oeuvres, soup, beef, olives, roast chicken, plum pudding and figs. Park had just been promoted Lieutenant Colonel and, after the loyal toast to the Queen, the men drank his health, with further toasts to sweethearts, wives and absent friends, followed by a singsong and hot rum punch.

The best Christmas present would have been the arrival of Buller’s army, but news of his disastrous defeat at Colenso on 15 December, with the loss of over a thousand men and ten guns, had put paid to that hope.

Saving the guns at Colenso: Freddy Roberts, son of Lord Roberts,
was killed in this action; he was awarded the Victoria Cross posthumously.

Captain W Arnott, Adjutant of the Border Mounted Rifles, who had been wounded at End Hill, kept himself occupied during his convalescence by writing a serial letter to his wife mentioning that he’d had a very pleasant Christmas, but a note of foreboding crept in:

‘We got a present of some potatoes from Mrs Tatham and some jam. We managed a very good plum pudding and with a ration of rum instead of brandy or whisky we did very well. We had sports in the afternoon and a concert later in the week. Xmas week and New Year week were extremely wet and uncomfortable and with the wet we got a lot of sickness’. 

Souvenir Saturday: Natal Border Mounted Rifles 1899 Ladysmith

Border Mounted Rifles 1899: officers who served in Ladysmith. Back Row: Lieut J Gold, Lieut L Trenor, Lieut Qtr Master W D Smith, Lieut H B Andreasen, Lieut R G Archibald, Vet. Officer Lieut W M Power. Middle Row: Lieut F L Thring, Capt R Vause, Major J F Rethman Officer Commanding, Adj. Major W Sangmeister, Capt W Arnott. Front: Lieut Jack Royston, Capt H T Platt Med. Officer

Capt Arnott was wounded at Bester's Kop. Lieut Quartermaster William Dixon Smith died of enteric at Intombi Camp in January 1900. Major W Sangmeister and Captain J R Royston received the D.S.O. Major Rethman was promoted Lieut Colonel in December 1900 and retired from the Regiment in1904; he died in 1936.

For a list of BMR serving in the Anglo-Boer War see Mole's Blog at 
molegenealogy.blogspot.com/2012/09/boer-war-border-mounted-rifles-list.html

Boer War: Border Mounted Rifles list

BORDER MOUNTED RIFLES - ANGLO-BOER WAR 1899-1902

Abbreviations:
K: Killed
W: Wounded
D: Died

Majors:
JF Rethman, MLA, Commanding
W Sangmeister
Captains:
W Arnott, Adjutant, (W)
R Vause
JR Royston
Surg-Capt:
HT Platt
CA Bowker
Lieutenants:
L Trenor
James Gold
H Andreasen
JB Stuart
RW Wilson (W)
RG Archibald
FL Thring
Vet-Lieutenant
Power
Quarter-Master
WD Smith (D)
Tp-Sgt Maj
W Walton (W)
Quarter-Master
A Bousfield
Staff Sgt-Maj
C Mckenzie
Regt Sgt-Maj
Eaglestone
OR Sgt-Maj
JW Aiken
Hosp Sgt-Maj
J McClellan
Sgt-Maj:
RC Archibald
AW Fraser (W)
WTG Gold
J Hayes
Q-M-S
H Britten
Sergeants:
R von der Heyde
I Poss
A Ringo
RC Gold
H Rethman
HC Gold
EF Gibbens (W)
JR Greer
JR Hancock (D)
E Haajem
LW Langton
Cook-Sergeant
T Crocker (K)
Tlr-Sergeant
JF McAndrew
Tptr-Sergeant
A Barth
Farrier-Sergeants:
G Smith
A Watson
H Bakeberg
Sergeant-Sdler
A Harding
Corporals:
RN Arbuckle
F Bakeberg
A Borchard
J Anderson, Relief Force
GH Crookes
JH Garbers
CR Heslop
FO Howes
FAL Larkan (W)
Colin Wilson (W)
A Dobson
JH Dalgarno
C Gold
JL Gordon
Lance-Corporals:
P Lillebo
R Nilson
J Bazley
GE Boyce
Trumpeters:
H Alborough
TB Bremner
JS Collins
EF Glass
Shoesmith
Thos Wills
Troopers:
AO Andersen (D)
AG Andersen, Relief Force
W Alexander
OC Arbuthnot
Harold Archibald (W)
Dante Archibald, (W)
JWH Ashe (D)
R Appelgreen
A Alborough (D)
GN Alborough
WS Alborough
H Alcock
HO Alderson
J Adcock
W Austin
A Adams, at Ixopo
WF Betty, Colonial Scouts
R Burford, ex NNV*
WA Blandford
F Bazley
G Bazley
G Bakeberg
W Bakeberg
T Bell, Discharged
A Bjorseth
ES Clark
AE Clark
Geo Clark, Relief Force
HH Clarke
GK Cooper
DW Coutts, (D)
VE Clarence
P Comrie
A Crossley
CL Camp
EC Chittenden
H Clegg, ex NNV*
J Dehrmann, (W)
R Dawson
C Dagefoerde
NL Davey
HS Duyer
WN Everitt
RT Elliotte, Ixopo
R Ernshalt
RW Eastthorpe
CD Eva
GL Edmunds (W)
W Eyers
FC Fox (K)
W Fayers
S Fairness
T Fairness
FW Fell
GD Foubister
P Bjorseth
N Brudevig
WW Bailey
JE Brown
S Brown (K)
H Brown
JH Bradshaw
H Buhr
AW Britten
A Bosse
RN Boyd
GFH Brooke, W*
JR Balland
S Bernest
JH Cutliffe, drowned
W Cooper, ex-ILH
JH Gold, (K)
J Goddard
JA Greer
J Gabriel
P Garson
Wm Greig (D)
P Hardouin
W Hewitt
W Hewitt, ex-NNV*
F Hufft
G Hutcheon, ex-NNV*
TH Himes
EM Holte (D)
AG Hojem (D)
O Haajem
K Haajem
N Hogg
WH Hogg
J Hogg
CL Hammond
WH Frost
CC Foster
J Foster
WH Fairweather
WS Flack
CE Freeman
C Goddschalk
J Godwin
AG Goldstone (W)
T Grant
G Gibson
J Gibson*
WJ Goodridge (D)
WJ Gray
LH Gray
E Gray
W Letthuisen
R Lillebo
W Little
J Lupke
F Lupke
AG Langon
WH London
HW Larson
SG Lamb (D)
J Lassack
HR Mason, Relief Force
AV Mason
T Manning
CN Manning
LS Melville (D)
HK Melville (W)
Hugh Melville
A Melville
M Martinson
AR Mack
CA Hilton
J Houston
W Hardman
GJ Heslop
EP Heslop
JW Howes, (W) Relief Force
GD Hulley
PR Hulley (K)
FW Hulley
HW Hulley
O Inglebrigtsen
EJ Judles
R Jordan
WW Jay, Relief Force
HW Johnson
H Kisch, ex-NNV*
B Klusener
JW Kirkman, Relief Force
W Klapprott
J Kaiser
RO Koljes
AE Keith
WE Keith
J Lawson
BH Lawson (K)
G Lawson
TM Rethman
J Rossler
WJ Rigby
HM Raw
EE Raw
TA Robinson
AE Robinson
W Redshaw
TD Mack
W Mack
H Murray (D)
SS Maritz
E Marriott
AG Marwick
FR McDonald
R Moyles
JJ Millar
BW Martin
HH Munro
A McClure
H Norden (W), Relief Force
T Nourse
P Nilsen (K)
EG Oliver
G Oie
W Pullin, ex-Scout
E Poss
A Peddie
AS Purse
E Poily
E Pahr (D)
CR Pickard
N Pedlar
JC Pollock
C Shuttleworth
AH Shuttleworth
AF Shuttleworth
W Simmonds
T Stapleton
A Symes
TAB Taylor
C Taylor
H Rasmussen
E Reid, Colonial Scout
G Smith
W Smail
O Strauss (D W)
F Shutte
W Stow
J Smith
GH Stokes
L Somers
WR Somers
A Sutherland
GAB -Senegalden (D)
HC Stainton
J Simpson
GC Souttar
AH Stone
AJ Stone (W)
WJ Stone
AK Stone
RC Stone
ED Stewart (W)
CC Stuart (W), Relief Force
A Stuart (W)
GC Stafford
F Seymour
CF Thompson
Thies
BD Talbot
H Talbot
AC Thurston
FJ Thomas (W)
D Urquhart
W Uhlmann (D)
EW Velley
KM Vyvyan (D)
F Worden
EW Wywnn
CH Willson
J Watts
E Wardell
CH Willan
JD Watson
W Will
W Whitewright
WW Whitelaw
WF Whitfield
Geo Whitelaw
CJ Webb
A Walker
J Walker
WF Young

T H E     R O L L     O F     H O N O U R
KILLED OR DIED
Troopers:
S Brown, Tinta 'Nyoni
P Nilsen, Tinta 'Nyoni
SG Lamb, enteric, Dec 12
O Strauss, dysentery, Dec 17
Wm Greig, dysentery, Jan 5
H Murray, dysentery, Jan 5
FC Fox, Caesar's Hill, Jan 6
JH Gold, Caesar's Hill, Jan 6
BH Lawson, Caesar's Hill, Jan 6
PR Hulley, Caesar's Hill, Jan 6
Quarter-Master
WD Smith, enteric, Jan 13
Troopers:
W Uhlmann, diarrhoea, Jan 20
DW Coutts, enteric, Jan 21
AO Anderson, enteric, Jan 29
AG Hojem, enteric, Feb 2
Sergeant
JR Hancock, enteric, Feb 10
Troopers:
EM Holte, enteric, Feb 10
JWH Ashe, dysentery, Feb 13
LS Melville, enteric, Feb 24
KM Vyvyan, enteric, Mar 13
A Alborough, enteric, Mar 13
GA Behrens-Senegalden, enteric, Mar 16
E Pahr, tubercle of lung, Apr 13
WJ Goodridge, dysentery, Apr 23
JH Cutcliffe, accidentally drowned, Aug 11
Cook-Sergeant
TS Crocker, disease, Oct 11
WOUNDED
Sergeant-Major
Fraser, shoulder, Tinta 'Nyoni
Troopers:
GFH Brooke, arm, Tinta 'Nyoni
J Dehrman, head, Tinta 'Nyoni
JW Howes, arm, Tinta 'Nyoni
H Norden, leg, Tinta 'Nyoni
O Strauss, groin, Tinta 'Nyoni
CC Stuart, leg, Tinta 'Nyoni
HK Melville, lungs, Tinta 'Nyoni
JH Cutcliffe, ankle, Tinta 'Nyoni
AJ Stone, head, Tinta 'Nyoni
Sergeant
EF Gibbens, head, Lombard's Kop
Corporal
A Stuart, back, Lombard's Kop
Captain
Arnott, abdomen, Bester's Kop
Troopers:
GL Edmunds, lungs, Bester's Kop
AG Goldstone, lungs, Bester's Kop
FJ Thomas, head, Bester's Kop
Corporals:
FAL Larkan, knee, Caesear's Camp
Colin, Wilson, head, Caesar's Camp
Troopers:
Harold D Archibald, hip, Caesar's Camp
H Dante Archibald, throat, Caesar's Camp
Lieutenant
RW Wilson, thigh (twice), Colenso
Troop-Sergeant-Major
WW Walton, hand, on picket
Trooper
ED Stewart, hand and elbow, Maybole

ACCIDENTALLY INJURED
Lieutenant
JB Stuart, shot through foot, Oct 6
Sergeant
JR Hancock, injury to back, Oct 15
Troopers:
J Lawson, horse destroyed eyesight, Apr 27
WH Hogg, fractured forearm, Apr 27
Farrier-Sergeant
Bakeberg, fall, arm fracture, May 13
Troopers:
Sutherland, dislocated shoulder, May 13
HH Clarke, fall, sprained ankle, May 14
R Burford, fractured collar bone, May 20
Lance-Corporal
R Nilsen, fractured rib, May 23

JOINED COMPOSITE FORCE
Captain
J Royston
Lieutenants
L Trenor
J Gold
Troopers
A Harding
J Watts
HW Hulley
TA Robinson
O Arbuthnot
AW Britton
WH London
W Slow
G Bakeberg
F Bazley
H Buhr
S Bernest
WA Blandford
VE Clarence
HC Clegg
HS Duyer
RW Easthorpe
T Furness
C Gottschalk
TH Hines
WR Hewitt
JW Howes
NW Johnstone
EJ Judles
RO Kolges
P Levick
G Lawson
AE Lawson
FW Lawson
CM Manning
HH Munroe
G Oie
EG Oliver
E Poily
H Pedlar
CR Pickhard
H Rasmussen
EW Reid
TE Shuter
AH Shuttleworth
AF Shuttleworth
J Smith
H Stratford
D Ugatore
JH Vant
W Whitewright
CH Willan
W Will

* Natal Naval Volunteers

Border Mounted Rifles

Heritage Month: Desecration of Prince Imperial Memorial and Intombi Military Cemetery

Prince Imperial Memorial: damage (Natal Witness)

In July 2012 it was reported that the memorial to the Prince Imperial, near Nqutu in the Dundee district, had been the target of vandals for the second time in six months. The marble cross marking the site was destroyed and the supporting structure seriously damaged.

This served no purpose: the site is a memorial – there are no human remains buried there and nothing of value is hidden below the surface.

The Prince Imperial

The cross commemorates the death of Prince Louis Napoleon who was the only son of the Emperor Napoleon III and the Empress Eugenie, and was also the great-nephew of Napoleon I.

The Prince Imperial, who had been educated towards a military career, obtained permission from Queen Victoria to sail to South Africa with British reinforcements as a special observer during the Anglo-Zulu War, arriving in Cape Town on 26 March 1879 and later continuing his journey to Durban and subsequently to Pietermaritzburg. He was attached to the staff of Lord Chelmsford as an extra aide-de-camp; the responsibility for the Prince’s safety rested heavily on Chelmsford, especially as that young gentleman was an enthusiastic soldier.

In June, the Prince was among a detachment, including Lieutenant Carey, sent to choose a camp for the army’s march on Ulundi. During this patrol the troops came under surprise attack and the Prince was killed. His body was recovered and returned to England. A year later the Empress Eugenie sailed to South Africa to visit the place where the Prince had died, and where the commemorative memorial had been set up.

Intombi Military Cemetery: damage (Natal Mercury)

The incident at the Prince Imperial memorial site followed hard upon the heels of the desecration of the Intombi Military Cemetery near Ladysmith, earlier in the year. A grave was dug up, creating a hole 2m deep, and a headstone was damaged.

From the photograph taken at the site the headstone appears to be one of the distinctive Border Mounted Rifles’ memorials. I believe the headstone could be that of William Dixon Smith, Lieutenant Quartermaster of the BMR, who died at Intombi in January 1900 – not a faceless soldier to me, but a real person, whose Siege letters I’ve read and whose life and family history I have researched in depth. The situation is deplorable no matter which grave has been disturbed.

A spokesman for Amafa/Heritage KZN believes that buttons, badges and other military items were the object of the illegal excavations, though such items would not have been buried in this formal cemetery. It was therefore wasted effort on the part of the vandals and restoration of the damaged section will be expensive. It is an offence to remove any relic from a battlefield or grave site and any person found guilty of the crime faces a prison sentence; there is a reward offered for information leading to a conviction.

A disturbing aspect of the incidents is that, according to Amafa, relic hunters pay locals to unearth valuable collectors’ items from these sites. This may be the case in certain instances but if relic hunters are knowledgeable about collecting militaria they would presumably do their homework before delegating any excavations: it seems unlikely that a site such as the Prince Imperial memorial would be targeted since no militaria could be expected to be found where no body lies buried.

What price heritage?


Footnote:

In an earlier refurbishment programme at Intombi Military Cemetery, the cross (seen left) which should have been attached to a Border Mounted Rifles memorial has instead been cemented onto the plinth of an unknown soldier of the 2nd Battn Rifle Brigade. A number of memorial stones to men of the Border Mounted Rifles now lack the surmounting cross bearing the famous Boot and Spur of that regiment.

Anglo-Boer War: photos and casualties

To identify a regiment or find out more from a photo of an Anglo-Boer War ancestor, several avenues need to be followed: family memory or letters and other personal papers and surviving items such as medals, combined with archival sources as well as the close scrutiny of the photograph itself – with magnifying glass if necessary – revealing detail of badges or other insignia as well as who took the picture, when and where. Don’t ignore anything that might be written (or printed) on the back of the photograph, or on the card mount.
When rephotographing the photo, include the entire picture, not just the part showing the subject.

Even if all these are studied there may remain unanswered questions. You may need to call in a specialist in military research – never send your original photograph, but a good copy. 

If you’re uncertain who the photographed ancestor is, remember that he might not be an ancestor at all, but a friend in the same regiment. This also applies to group photographs: they might not include your ancestor.

Casualties

Ironically, it’s often easier to discover more about an ancestor who did not survive the war. There was enormous loss of life during the Anglo-Boer War, affecting both Boers and British, as well as the African population who were caught up in the conflict. Over
20 000 British died and nearly 23 000 were wounded. Disease accounted for more deaths than casualties during action. Enteric fever and dysentery killed about 18 000 – perhaps a conservative estimate.

























Names of Anglo-Boer War casualties taken from the South African Defence Force Roll of Honour can be accessed at www.justdone.co.za/ROH

A roll of Natal Field Force casualties of the first part of the war (20 October 1899-26 October 1900) is searchable at http://surreygenealogist.com/sgdatabase.htm

Recommended Reading

Steve Watt: In Memoriam (University of Natal Press Pietermaritzburg 2000) provides a Roll of Honour of Imperial Forces in the Anglo-Boer War 1899-1902, 25 000 soldiers, women and civilians, who laid down their lives for the British Cause whether they were from Britian, South Africa, Rhodesia, Australia, Canada, or New Zealand. The book offers alphabetical lists by name, regimental number, regiment, type of casualty, place, date of death, where buried and whether the name is listed on a monument or in a graveyard, with location. Particulars of age and religion of the deceased, where available, are given.

John Stirling: The Colonials in South Africa 1899-1902 (Blackwood, Edinburgh 1907). A mine of information; some individual names such as those mentioned in dispatches, are included as well as details of each unit’s operations during the war.

Darrell Hall: The Hall Handbook of the Anglo-Boer War (University of Natal Press 1999) gives a useful list of British Regiments and the dates of their period of service in South Africa, with the battles or field operations at which they were present. Hall also gives a list of the Colonial Forces with SA arrival and departure dates, and a list of SA units with details such as when and where these were raised and disbanded. Men who were awarded the Victoria Cross during the Anglo-Boer War are listed alphabetically, as are names of graveyards where Imperial Soldiers were buried. There are brief biographies of some of the major personalities associated with the war.

Border Mounted Rifles, Ladysmith, December 1899